Win boosts play-off hope
9:53am Thursday 17th April 2008
Chesham United 1 Stourbridge 2.
The Glassboys picked up a huge win at fellow high-fliers Chesham United to boost their chances of making the end-of-season promotion play-offs on Saturday.
The visitors got off to a terrific start by grabbing the lead after just three minutes. Paul Danks delivered in a free-kick from the left-hand edge of the penalty area and Nathan Bennett sent a far post header beyond home keeper Richard Hayward. Chesham settled after that and on 16 minutes, a low drive from Eugene Ofori drew a save from Lewis Solly diving down to his left. The Buckinghamshire side drew level five minutes later when Dom Marsala played a quick free-kick to Danny Burnell. He drove towards the Stourbridge box before finding Ofori. Burnell continued his run and he fastened onto Ofori's flick to tuck away a low shot.
Stourbridge had a great chance to forge back in-front nine minutes after the re-start after being awarded a hotly disputed penalty. A long throw-in from Slater caused problems in the Chesham defence and the referee spotted a foul on Leon Broadhurst as he looked to get in a header. However, Broadhurst blazed the resulting spot-kick over the bar. Midway through the half, Chesham twice went close to scoring with Marsala collecting a diagonal ball on 67 minutes and hitting a low shot into the side-netting with shouts for a corner rejected and a minute later Ofori found Dave Fotheringham on his outside and he cut in from the left before striking a low drive just wide. The visitors introduced Andy Wright with twenty minutes left and the move paid immediate dividends as the Glassboys regained the lead. Another long throw-in was pushed out by Hayward and Slater lofted the ball back into the area. Winsper challenged for a header and the ball dropped to Wright whose shot was blocked by a defender, but Broadhurst lashed home the loose ball. Nine minutes later, Kyle Hadley broke down the right and his cross was flicked on by Broadhurst for Wright who sent a volley wide. Chesham desperately searched for an equaliser in the closing stages and Solly made one excellent save a couple of minutes before the end, however their frustration boiled over in stoppage time when Parker received a second caution after a show of dissent.